I Never Told You
by arygon199
Summary: A Quick future fic. There were a lot of things in his life he regretted. Mostly, though, he regretted giving up on her.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: This is going to be a pretty short story, probably just three or four chapters, and this is really just the introductory chapter, so the next few chapters should be a bit longer. Let me know what you guys think - any suggestions I can get would be helpful for the rest of the story!**

_******Disclaimer: I own nothing. This world belongs to Ryan Murphy and Fox. I'm just playing with it. The title and lyrics in this story are taken from a song by Colbie Caillat. **_

* * *

_But I never told you  
What I should have said  
No, I never told you  
I just held it in_

_And now  
I miss everything about you_  
_Can't believe that I still want you_  
_And after all the things we've been through_  
_I miss everything about you_  
_Without you_

The apartment was empty, but that was nothing new. Quinn dropped the grocery bags off on the kitchen table, which was conveniently located two feet away from the front door. Her place wasn't exactly big. She was lucky enough that it had one bedroom. But it was clean and warm and homely and that was enough for her.

She started pulling the food out of the grocery bags and sorting it into the small cupboard, making sure that everything went exactly where it was so supposed to be; nothing could be out of place. Her friends thought she was a little too organized, to the point of being obsessive compulsive, but she didn't really care. It was just who she was.

The loud beeping of her cell phone pierced the otherwise peaceful quiet. She grabbed her phone from her purse and found a text from Ryan telling her that he had a long night of studying to do for his exam tomorrow, so he wouldn't be able to hang out tonight. She felt a little bad when the relief hit her. It wasn't like she didn't enjoy spending time with her boyfriend, but today had been long and exhausting and right now she really needed some time for herself.

After all of the food was put away, she grabbed the mail off the table and stepped a few feet away into the living room. She settled herself onto the couch as she scanned through the mail. They were all bills, except for one – one she'd been waiting months for. She'd been hoping it would arrive today. It was just what she needed after a long day at the hospital. Eagerly, she tore at the envelope. A piece of paper slipped out, along with a few pictures piled neatly together. She set the pictures aside, wanting to wait for last to see those.

She read through the letter swiftly, knowing she'd end up reading it countless times again. Her smile widened as she read about how her daughter was doing. Beth was six now and she'd just started school last month. Shelby said she was incredibly smart, at the top of her class already, and Quinn hadn't expected any less. She could also be quite the trouble maker when she wanted to be, and was as feisty and stubborn a six year old could be – something Quinn thought she probably gained from her father more so than herself. The letter was fairly short, just giving Quinn an update on what had been going on with Beth during the six months that had passed since the last letter. It wasn't enough for Quinn, but the letter could have been twenty pages front and back and it still wouldn't have been enough. She wanted to know everything she possibly could about her daughter. It wasn't possible, though. Quinn had resigned herself to that the day she'd given her daughter to Shelby.

After scanning through the letter a few more times, Quinn decided it was time to move on to the pictures. There were only three new ones, along with a few old ones Shelby had emailed her from Beth's sixth birthday. Quinn's smile widened. Even though everyone had said she'd looked just like Quinn when she was born, all Quinn saw when she looked at her daughter was Beth's father. Everything from her light brown hair tied tight into a pony tail to her dark brown eyes, to the smirk on her face as Shelby placed a kiss on her cheek breathed Noah Puckerman. Beth was her father's daughter. There was no doubt there.

It was funny. When she thought of Puck separately from Beth, she could barely last a minute before having to push the thought of him out of her mind completely; it just hurt too much. But when she looked at Beth and she saw him so clearly in their daughter, she couldn't help but smile because she loved that their daughter was so much like him. The fact that Beth had been raised by someone else and yet she contained qualities that were so irrefutably Puck could only make Quinn happy. Because even though it would be a long time, if ever, that Beth knew her real parents, at least she could know them a little bit through herself. And that satisfied Quinn for now.

It was over a half an hour later when she finally looked away from the pictures, but it wasn't by choice. Her phone was ringing. She stretched lazily over to the coffee table and picked it up. It was Rachel, and because that guaranteed a very long conversation, Quinn was tempted to ignore it, but she knew better; Rachel would call back in five minutes anyway.

She answered with a sigh. "Hey, Rachel."

"Quinn!"

Quinn smiled a little at her friend's overexcited voice. "What's up with you?"

"Oh, Quinn, you won't believe it. It's so amazing! I can't even begin…" Rachel went on to explain that whatever the hell was going on was just so unbelievably incredible, she had no words to describe it, blah, blah, bah. Quinn loved Rachel, she really did, but sometimes she just didn't know how to get to the point.

After almost a minute of rambling, Quinn cut her off. "Okay, drama queen, slow down. Just tell me what happened."

"Finn proposed and I said yes!"

"Rachel, that's great!" She couldn't say she was surprised, but she really was happy for them. Rachel and Finn had been together since high school. They had moved to New York City together after graduation, where Rachel pursued her dream of Broadway and Finn went to school to be a teacher. They'd lived together for four years now so Quinn thought it was about time they actually got married.

"Isn't it? It was so romantic, Quinn. I came home from the show and he'd made me dinner – actually _made _it! I think that was the first time he ever cooked, actually. So I knew something was up, of course. And then there were roses…" Quinn listened patiently as Rachel went on a long-winded explanation of Finn's proposal. "I suppose now that I think back on it all, it was a bit cliché," Rachel finished , "but I don't care. I couldn't have asked for anything more perfect."

"I'm really happy for you both," Quinn said. "You know I've been pushing Finn to propose to you pretty much ever since we all moved here."

"I know. Now you can't tease us about _living in sin_ anymore."

Quinn grinned. "You know I never meant it in a bad way. It was just the traditional side of me coming through."

"I know," Rachel said, chuckling. "But I've got some other news that coincides with the engagement. I'm going to throw an engagement party, and I'm going to invite everyone from Glee club. It's been four years since we've all last been together and that's way too long, don't you think? I've already talked to Mr. Shuester and he's going to help me organize it. I really want everyone to be there. It would be incredible, don't you think?"

Quinn's eyes fell back down to the picture of her daughter and she saw him in her mind. Puck. She hadn't seen him for two years, but if Rachel got what she wanted, she'd be seeing him again very soon. "It definitely sounds interesting," Quinn replied.

Rachel sensed her hesitance. "Quinn, I know you're worried about seeing Noah for the first time in two years, but maybe it will be a good thing. Maybe you two can be friends again."

Quinn doubted that very much. She would never be able to be friends with Puck, not when she would always want more. But she decided now was not the time to have this conversation with Rachel. She would support her friend because she could tell that this party already meant the world to her. "Yeah," Quinn said, letting a small tint of hope drift into her voice, "maybe it will be a good thing."

"And you'll get to see Mercedes, and of course Kurt and Brittany and Mr. Shue and everyone else. You'll have plenty of people to distract you from him, just in case things do turn sour."

"I know. I really do miss Mercedes. And I haven't seen Mr. Shuester in forever." She nodded to herself; she was starting to believe that maybe it really would be alright. "It'll be good," she said, more to herself than to Rachel.

"No," Rachel said, "it'll be _great_."

Quinn really hoped she was right.

**888**

It was another typical day for Puck. Drop off his sister at school, eight hour day at Burt's auto shop, pick up his little sister from soccer practice, go home and help his mom around the house before going to sleep and repeating yesterday. Yup, he thought with a roll of his eyes, his life sure was grand.

There was one difference today, though, and it was enough for him to easily resist his usual temptation to stop at the bar across from Burt's and have himself a drink. His mom had called him earlier and told him he'd gotten a letter from Shelby. He'd been counting down the hours until he could go home and see what his little girl had been up to during the past six months. The letters from Shelby were always the one bright spot in his otherwise sucky life.

He pulled up at McKinley High just as Leah's practice was getting out. He spotted Mr. Shuester across the parking lot and sent him a feeble wave. Thankfully Mr. Shue seemed to be caught up in an argument with Sue Sylvester (some things never changed), which meant Puck wouldn't be forced to chat with his old teacher. He and Mr. Shue were actually pretty close, and on any other day Puck would be happy to talk to him, but today he just wanted to get home.

He spotted Leah jogging towards his car, her dark hair swinging back and forth in her pony tail. She threw her duffle bag into the bed of truck before sliding into the passenger seat. He ruffled her hair because he knew she hated it. "Sup, midget."

"Neanderthal." He let out a low chuckle. He and Leah had a habit of cutting each other down, but it was never meant to be serious. Actually, it was sort of how they showed their fondness for one another. She swatted his hand away, used to his torment, before observing him for a moment. "You look depressed."

"You look like a sweaty pig."

She ignored him. "I guess that's nothing new, though. You always look depressed."

"I do not." He was actually in a pretty good mood, for him at least. Of course compared to anyone else, he probably would look depressed.

"Yeah, you do."

His phone buzzed in his pocket and he picked it up, eyebrows raising in surprise when he saw who it was. "Shut up, sis, I've got a phone call." Leah punched his leg in response and he held back a groan as he answered. "Hey, Finn."

His best friend's voice sounded excited over the line. "Puck, how are you doing, man?"

"Pretty good. How about you?"

"Good. Great, actually." Finn paused dramatically for a moment (Puck thought Rachel was definitely rubbing off on him), before continuing with uncontained enthusiasm. "I proposed to Rachel!"

No surprise there. Puck thought it was about time those two made things official since they'd been dating for over four years now, not including their on and off stages in high school. "That's awesome. Wait, she said yes, right?"

"Of course!" Puck pictured Finn pacing on the other side of the line, a huge smile on his lips as he tried to find some way to contain just how happy he was. "I mean, I was worried at first that she'd say no, because you know how she is. She wants to make it big on Broadway before settling down and all that stuff. But she didn't even hesitate. She said she's wanted to marry me since she first laid eyes on me."

Finn continued on to talk about the proposal. Puck listened in silence, a little bored by Finn's more than cheesy ramblings about how perfect it had been. He loved Finn and he was more than happy that he and Rachel were finally tying the knot, but he could only handle hearing about how awesome Finn's life was going for so long. It was a little too much for him and his not so awesome life. Maybe Leah was right. Maybe he was a little depressed. Not like clinically depressed, but more like he was in a funk. For the past two years.

"Anyway," Finn finished with a big burst of breath. "You probably didn't want to hear all that."

He chuckled softly. "Not really, no. Seriously, though, I think it's great, Finn. I'm really happy for you two."

"Thanks. But this isn't why I called. Well, it's part of the reason, but the main reason was to invite you to our engagement party. It's in a couple of weeks and Rachel's already got it all planned out. She wants it to be sort of a reunion for Glee club." Finn sounded a bit more wary than excited, probably because he was thinking exactly what Puck was thinking.

"A reunion, eh? Sounds…fun."

"Yeah, I guess. You'll come, though, right? I know it might be a little weird after everything, but Rachel really wants you there, and so do I. It won't be a real reunion unless everyone's there."

Puck wanted to say no – he really, _really _wanted to, because he really wasn't ready to see _her_ – but he couldn't. After all he and Finn had been through, Puck owed this to him. "Yeah, of course I'll come. I wouldn't miss it for the world."

This seemed to reassure Finn. In fact, Puck didn't need to see Finn to know he was beaming. "Awesome. Seriously, Puck, thank you. It's gonna be great, I promise. You're not gonna regret coming."

"I know I won't. Congrats, Finn. You and Rachel really deserve this."

"Thanks, man. I'll see you in a couple weeks then."

"Yeah. I'll see you then."

He set his phone down, a heavy sigh escaping his lips as he tried his best to focus on the road. Two weeks. Two weeks and he was going to see her again. This seriously sucked.

"That was Finn?"

Puck turned to Leah in surprise; he'd almost forgotten she was there. "Yup. He and Rachel are engaged."

"That's good." Leah observed him with a frown. "You don't look very happy."

He wasn't going to bother keeping anything from her. She'd find out soon enough anyway and it was better to get her pestering over with sooner rather than later. "They're having an engagement party in a couple of weeks, and it's also going to be a Glee reunion. I promised him I'd go."

Leah registered what this meant immediately. "So you're going to see Quinn?"

He let out a long breath. "Yup."

"You're already thinking of ways to get out of this, aren't you?"

He smiled softly and shook his head. "There's no getting out of this one, kid."

He was a little surprised when Leah's small hand covered his. "Don't worry, Noah. It'll be okay."

He just shrugged. He hoped she was right, but he had no way of knowing how things would turn out. He hadn't spoken to Quinn in two years and he definitely hadn't left on the best terms. He had very little idea of where she was in her life and she probably couldn't care less about his own life.

A smack against the back of his head drew him back into reality. There was the Leah he knew. "Oh, stop all your moping, Noah. You've got to see her eventually. You can't avoid her forever."

"She's avoiding me too, you know."

"Well it looks like it's the end of that road for the both of you. Now you're both going to have to act like adults and actually try to sort out your issues. Scary, I know, but it's just the way things work in adult land. Not that I'd actually know, since I'm still a teenager, but, well, let's just say I grew up fast."

He stared over at his sister. She was such a smart ass sometimes. But she was right. Strange as it was, his fifteen year old little sister really knew what she was talking about. He wasn't going to let her know that, though.

"You're insanely annoying, you know that?"

She grinned. "Looks like we really are related, 'cause so are you."


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: **Thanks to **chelle2911**, **xMaple Leafx**, and **Kay** for reviewing the last chapter. You guys are awesome! Also, thanks to all those who favorited and/or alerted the story.

Just an FYI, the song at the end of this chapter is called _Good Life, _by the awesome OneRepublic. I strongly recommend giving it a listen while you read. It really sets the mood. On that note, enjoy!

* * *

They were at her favorite place in the world: Starbucks. Quinn sipped slowly on her americano, listening quietly as Ryan told her more about his internship at the hospital. They worked together. It was how they'd met, actually. He was an intern at the same hospital she'd interned as a nurse at. She now had an actual job at the hospital, while Ryan still had a long ways to to go before he was officially a doctor.

After awhile, the conversation turned quickly into uncomfortable territory. "So," Ryan said, leaning forward with a hopeful look on his face, "how would you feel about having dinner with my parents tonight?"

Quinn looked up at him in surprise. "Tonight?"

"I know it's a little spur of the moment, but they've been wanting to meet your for awhile now and they're both going to be in town this weekend, a rare even in itself, and I don't know…I just thought I'd throw the idea out there."

She hadn't thought she'd ever be happy about this little Glee reunion they were having, but now she couldn't be more thrilled for the excuse to avoid meeting his parents (once again). "Ryan, I'm sorry, but I can't. Rachel and Finn are having an engagement party tonight and I really do have to be there."

"Oh." Ryan's eyebrows knitted together as he looked down at the table. She felt guilt bubbling in her stomach; it really looked like he was disappointed. He looked back at her a second later, smiling softly. "Rachel's the one who's in that play, right? The one we went to see a few months ago?"

Quinn nodded. "She's got a huge party planned out and a bunch of my old friends from high school are coming in for it. You understand. I just can't miss it."

The fact that she'd rather brave seeing Puck again than meet her boyfriend's parents should have been a silent warning that maybe she was wasting Ryan's time. She ignored it, though. She would meet his parents eventually. She just wasn't ready yet. Yes, they'd been dating almost six months, and yes, most girlfriends had met their boyfriend's parents by then, but she was taking things as slow as she possibly could with Ryan. He was the first guy she had dated since Puck and because of that she still needed some time to adjust.

"Of course," Ryan said, giving her a reassuring smile. His hand reached across the table to rest on top of hers. "My parents will understand too. We'll just have to have dinner another time."

"Another time," she agreed, forcing a smile.

Why did Ryan always have to be so understanding? She would feel so much better about being a horrible girlfriend if he was a horrible boyfriend too. But Ryan was perfect, or at least the closest thing to perfect. He never questioned her and gave her the time and space she needed without even having to ask if she needed it. He was patient and kind and completely selfless. In an ideal world he would be the perfect guy for her. He was real marriage material. But this was not an ideal world - this was her world, and her world included Puck, and as long as he was in that world, even if he existed simply in memory, she would never really be able to fully give herself to Ryan.

It was for this reason that she had tried to keep things superficial between them. She kept him from getting to know her closest friends. She never mentioned a word about her life in high school, except that she was a cheerleader. He didn't have a clue that she used to sing in the Glee club at her school, that they'd even won nationals her senior year. And of course he didn't know that she'd had a baby at sixteen. That would be the last thing she ever told him.

She knew it was wrong keeping all this from him when he was so open about his life with her, especially when it was clear that he was very serious about her. It was wrong to lead him on like this. But he was a safety net. He was there when she needed him to be and gone when she wanted him to be too. It was a good deal, really. He was the guy she thought she'd marry if all other options fail.

That thought was like a punch in the gut. She was such a horrible person. Seriously. She had an amazing guy on her hands and yet she considered him to be her back-up plan. She was using him for her own selfish reasons. She had thought she'd grown up since high school, but apparently she hadn't.

"Are you alright, Quinn?"

Ryan was studying her carefully, his eyes narrowing in obvious worry for her. She sent him a gentle smile. "You're a really good guy, you know that?"

His lips twitched into a grin. "Yes, but it's always nice to hear." She squeezed his hand and he squeezed back. "You're pretty amazing yourself."

If only he knew. He didn't know her. Not one bit. She wanted him to know her, though. Here, in this moment, she wanted more than anything to move on from the life she couldn't let go of, from _him_, and to open herself up to this wonderful man who could really make her happy.

And maybe she could. Maybe this party would be the closure she needed to allow herself to really be with Ryan, to let him know the real her.

Or maybe it would just make things worse. Maybe seeing Puck again would just strengthen the bond they had, would make it impossible for her to imagine ever giving herself to Ryan in the way she had to Puck.

She knew it was going to be one or the other. There would be no middle ground. Either way, this weekend her life was going to change; she could only hope it would be for the better.

**888**

Puck had thought being in the city again would be hard. He was right. He didn't like being back. It was uncomfortable. He was out of his zone. He'd liked it here when he first moved here, mostly because it was so distinctly opposite from Lima. He'd moved to New York with thoughts of becoming a new and improved Puck. He could have a fresh start here. That was what he'd thought, anyway. Nothing had turned out the way he wanted it to. He was still the same old Puck. Maybe a little bit buffer, and _maybe_ a little bit wiser, but otherwise, he hadn't changed. Not a bit.

"Puck!"

He turned around. He'd recognize that voice anywhere— the loud and sassy black girl from Glee. He grinned. He'd actually kind of missed Mercedes. Not that he'd ever tell her that. Of course Kurt was by her side as she headed his way. Four years after graduation and still those two were inseparable.

"Hey, guys," he said, sending them nonchalant smiles. "Long time, no see."

Mercedes pulled him into a side hug. "Hell yeah. It's been like three years, right?"

"Since Tina and Artie's wedding," Puck replied with a nod.

"I see you've maintained the mohawk-less look," Kurt mentioned with a nod to Puck's head.

Puck ran a hand along his shaved head. "It comes back from time to time. I like to keep things interesting." They all started walking out the airport towards the street, where Kurt announced he would be the one to hail a taxi, since it was one of his life dreams that he had yet to achieve.

"So how's LA been?" Puck asked as they waited for a cab to come their way. He held back a laugh as he watched a ridiculous looking Kurt jump up and down, trying to gain the attention of a driver.

"I'm not gonna lie, for awhile, it wasn't great, but these past couple of months have made up for it." Mercedes beamed at him. "I got a record deal!"

Puck raised an eyebrow. "Whoa. That's amazing."

"It's not a major record label or anything, but it's a start."

Kurt took a break from his taxi hailing to wrap an arm around Mercedes. "She's on her way to becoming the next Mariah. Minus the mental breakdown, of course."

Mercedes laughed. "And Kurt's working on his fashion line. He's already got a ton of customers."

Kurt waved her off. "Nonsense, Mercedes." He grinned over at Puck. "I've just got a couple good clients who happen to have connections, that's all."

Puck mustered the most enthusiastic smile he could. He already knew about Kurt, because Burt was always bragging about him, but he'd never actually congratulated Kurt about it all in person. "That's pretty awesome, Kurt."

Kurt finally managed to grab a taxi and soon they were all on their way to Mercedes and Kurt's hotel. Kurt and Mercedes quickly got into in depth conversation about what they would be wearing to the party, a conversation he was happy to be left out of. Hearing about how well Kurt and Mercedes were doing didn't exactly make him feel good about himself.

He was still living in Lima, still working at the same auto shop he'd worked at his senior year of high school, and he was still living with his mom. His life was pathetic compared to these two. Compared to everyone really. Puck had heard that Tina was going into psychology and Artie was going to law school. Rachel was going to be the next big Broadway star and Finn was on his way to becoming the next Mr. Shue. Quinn was a nurse and Santana was modeling. Mike was working at a huge accounting firm and Matt had gone on to play football for UCLA. Even Brittany was successful; last he'd heard she'd gotten a job as a back-up dancer for Beyonce. They were all going somewhere. And Puck? Well, Puck was pretty much going nowhere.

It was humiliating, really, when he thought about it— which was why he tended to not think about it most of the time. But being here, around Mercedes and Kurt and soon everyone else, he knew it was going to be a struggle to act like he was actually happy with his life. He was starting to dread this reunion more than ever.

It was awhile later when they pulled up to the Hilton, where Kurt and Mercedes were staying. He'd chatted a bit with Mercedes and Kurt on the way there, which had done a good job of passing the time, even though some of the topics had been a bit uncomfortable. Mercedes had brought up Quinn at one point, before thankfully catching on to his discomfort and changing the subject. When Mercedes had asked Puck what was he was doing in his own life, Puck had told them the truth—that he was still working for Kurt's dad. For some reason, lying about his life seemed more pathetic than the truth.

He hopped out of the cab to help them into the hotel. He'd seen them loading their stuff into the taxi at the airport and knew they were gonna need all the help they could get. He pulled Mercedes' huge suitcase out of the trunk. "Seriously, Mercedes? All this for one weekend?"

"A girl needs to be prepared. Kurt's even worse."

He glanced back to see Kurt struggling with his two big, fancy-looking suitcases. He just shook his head and grabbed one of Kurt's suitcases before walking into the hotel lobby and dropping them off by the front desk, where a bellhop loaded them onto a cart. "I'll see you guys later tonight."

"You're not staying here?" Mercedes asked.

He shook his head. "Rachel and Finn insisted I stay with them." They knew he was short on money. He had refused them at first, not wanting their charity, but Rachel refused to give in to his stubbornness and he'd been forced to give in.

"We'll see you in a few hours then," Mercedes said. She gave him another little hug, which he awkwardly accepted. "It's really great to see you again, Puck."

He gave her a small smile. "Yeah, you too." He smiled at Kurt. "Both of you."

He headed back towards the cab, not exactly looking forward to the rest of the night. It wasn't long before the taxi pulled up to Rachel and Finn's apartment building. They had moved since he'd left New York. Their new building looked much bigger and much more impressive than the shabby one bedroom apartment the three of them had bought together when they'd first moved here.

As he stepped into the building and headed over the elevator, he wondered if anyone else would be there yet. The party started in a few hours, so he wouldn't be surprised if some of his old friends had arrived early to help get things ready. He just hoped Quinn wouldn't be there yet. He knew he was going to see her tonight, there was no getting out of it now, but he wanted their reunion to be amidst a large group of people, where he could easily escape if things got awkward.

He was on the sixth floor now, which was his place to get off. He took his time as he walked slowly through the dimly lit hall until he reached their door. His nerves were already getting the best of him and probably for no good reason at all. Quinn couldn't be in there. She was probably just as worried about seeing him again as he was. She wouldn't come early when she knew he would be there early too.

Feeling a bit better (and cursing himself for being the coward he was), he finally knocked on the door. It swung open almost immediately and before he could even blink he was enveloped into a tight, knock-the-wind-out-of-you hug. He awkwardly patted the top of Rachel's head, which barely reached his chest, and smiled down at her.

"Good to see you too, Rachel."

She pulled away and beamed up at him. "Oh, Puck, I'm so glad you're really here!"

"Did you think I was going to back out or something?"

"Well, _I _didn't- I had complete faith in you, but Finn on the other hand..."

Finn appeared behind Rachel and sent her a playful glare. "Way to stick by your fiancé." He turned to grin over at Puck. "And she's exaggerating. I knew you'd come, but I was also trying to prepare myself in case you didn't. Doesn't hurt to be a pessimist sometimes."

"I wasn't going to miss this, Finn," Puck said. "I wouldn't do that to my best bro."

Finn just smiled a reassuring smile. "I know." He pulled Puck into a short hug. "It's good to see you, man."

It turned out a few people _had_ shown up early. Tina and Artie were in the living room, Tina helping with the decorations while Artie typed away on his cell phone. When they saw him, they both stopped what they were doing and came over to greet him. He gave Tina a hug and Artie a good pat on the back. He hadn't seen them since their wedding three years ago, so needless to say, he'd missed them.

After their initial greetings, Puck and Finn both fell onto the couch while Tina and Rachel went off into the kitchen. "So how's married life been treating you, Artie?" Puck asked.

"Pretty great," Artie said with a grin.

"I'm thinking about trying it myself," Finn said, chuckling. He nudged Puck. "You should too."

Puck held back a grimace, instead letting out an awkward, unconvincing laugh. "Yeah, that'll be the day."

He didn't like to think about marriage and all that came along with it anymore, because the last time he had, he'd ended up screwing himself over. He could have been married now, he could have been happy like Artie and Tina and Rachel and Finn, but instead he'd chosen to end the best relationship he'd ever had just because of his stupid pride.

Artie cleared his throat and decided to change the subject to something that made Puck almost as uncomfortable as the previous topic. "So, Puck, how have things been going for you?"

"Okay. I'm still working for Burt."

"You always were an awesome mechanic," Artie said, giving him one of those sincere, caring smiles that made it hard for Puck to believe that Artie was looking down on him, like he'd assumed all of his friends would. "You fixed Tina's old Jetta more times than I could count."

Puck chuckled softly. "Yeah, that car really did suck."

Artie agreed with a laugh and Puck began to wonder, Quinn aside, why he'd been so worried about this night in the first place. These were his friends, his _real _friends. Glee club had been all about accepting a person as they were. That hadn't changed since then and he was beginning to see now that it never would.

They talked for awhile longer and Puck let himself relax. Tonight could be a good night if he'd just let it be. Even seeing Quinn again could be good. He would talk to her and tell her he was sorry for leaving the way he did, and then maybe they could start from scratch and be friends again.

Artie excused himself when Tina called for him in the kitchen and, when Artie was out of earshot, Puck turned to Finn, feeling the need to apologize for pretty much the last two years in general. "Finn, I'm really sorry about not being around these last couple of years."

"It's okay," Finn said. "I get why you did. You were just trying to move on from the life you lived here and to do that, you had let us go, for awhile at least."

"It was stupid, though. I thought that by going home, all my problems would be solved, that I would be able to find myself there, but instead I just went back to the same dreary existence I'd hated so much in the first place."

"So you regret leaving?" Finn asked.

He sighed. That was a complicated question. There were a lot of things in his life he regretted. Mostly, though, he regretted giving up on Quinn. "I regret how I left things, but I don't know if I actually regret leaving. My mom really needed me. You know about her breast cancer. I would have moved back anyway because of that. Mostly I just regret being a horrible friend to you and Rachel. And then of course there's Quinn…"

He felt Finn's hand on his back, a sign of comfort that he didn't feel like he deserved. He looked back up at Finn and, unable to help himself any longer, asked the one question he had kept from asking for the past two years. "How is she?"

"She's good," Finn said. "I mean, I don't see her a lot nowadays, because she works like crazy, but I know she's doing pretty well for herself." He paused and looked a little conflicted as he went on, "She's dating someone, though. I know that."

That was something Puck could have done without learning. He knew by asking about her he could be opening a can of worms that could lead to heartbreak for him, but he needed to do it. He needed to know if she was okay, if she was happy. And it seemed she was.

"How long have they been together?"

Finn shrugged. "Around six months, I think. I've only met him once, but he seemed pretty decent." He sent Puck a little smile. "He's the type of guy you'd hate - tall, blond, looks like a model, and he comes from a rich family like Quinn's. He's gonna be a doctor."

Finn was right- that _was _the type of guy Puck hated. But what could he do? When he'd broken up with Quinn, he'd given her free reign do date as she pleased. He would be an idiot to think she would still be waiting around for him to come back, ready to jump right back into his arms and forget the past two years they'd spent completely ignoring each other's existence. Really, all he wanted was for Quinn to be happy - she deserved it after all he'd put her through - and if she was happy with this doctor guy, then Puck would suck it up and try to be happy for her too. It might hurt like hell for him, but he'd made his bed and now he had to lie in it.

"If it makes you feel any better," Finn said, "I really don't think they're gonna last. Her heart's not in it. She hasn't been the same since you and her ended."

It did sort of make him feel better. It gave him some hope in the midst of what he had thought was a hopeless situation - hope that she hadn't moved on, hope that maybe he might still have a shot with her.

Artie and the girls came back into the room with drinks. Puck took a long, refreshing sip of his beer and found himself actually looking forward to tonight - and not just to catching up with all his old friends. He was actually looking forward to seeing Quinn. Because no matter what happened tonight, whether Quinn had really moved on or not, he planned on making sure that he and Quinn came out at least understanding each other and why they had made the choices they had. He was going to fix things tonight and maybe after he did he would finally be able to fix himself.

**8888**

Here it was. The moment she'd been dreading for two weeks had finally arrived. She stood in front of Rachel and Finn's door, feeling nauseous with nerves, and resisted the strong urge to run back to the elevator, out the building, and as far away from their apartment, and therefore Puck, as possible. But she couldn't. It really wasn't even an option. As much as she was dreading this, it was something that was going to happen - that _needed _to happen.

Through the door, she heard the muffled sound of laughter. Puck was in there somewhere, she thought with a jolt. She moved a hand to the doorknob. Her heart felt like it was beating a million times a minute. She hated that she was making such a big deal out of something that would probably end up no big deal at all, but that was the way her mind worked. She had over thought the situation until it literally made her stomach ache with the nervousness she'd brought on herself.

Taking a deep breath, she opened the door and slipped as quietly as she could into the apartment. People were scattered all throughout the apartment, talking in small groups as they caught up. Those closest to her where mercifully the people she'd been looking forward to seeing the most.

"Mercedes," she said, releasing the breath she'd been holding in.

Mercedes twisted around at the sound of her voice, a huge smile taking over her lips. "Quinn!"

Quinn felt herself immediately relax as Mercedes pulled her into a hug. She'd been worrying so much about seeing Puck again that she'd practically forgotten that she would be seeing Mercedes for the first time in over a year. Mercedes had been one of her best friends in high school and years later they remained close, but they rarely saw each other now that Mercedes lived in California and Quinn was here in New York.

"I've missed you, Q," Mercedes said after she finally let Quinn go.

"I've missed you too. All of you." She grinned over at Tina and Kurt, who Mercedes had been standing with, and hugged them both. She glanced around quickly, catching sight of Mr. Shuester, who was talking to Matt, Mike, Santana, and Brittany. Rachel was in the kitchen talking at the speed of light to the former Ms. Pillsbury, now Mrs. Shue. Surprisingly, Puck was nowhere to be found.

"Is everyone here?" she asked.

"Yup," Tina said. "You're the last one to arrive."

"Decided to show up fashionably late, did you?" Kurt asked with a chuckle.

"Kind of," she replied, unable to keep her eyes from scanning around the rest of the living room, just in case she'd missed him the first time. Truthfully, Quinn had put off coming until the very last second. She'd wanted to be as late as she could without having to make a big entrance.

"Quinn!" Rachel had caught sight of her and was now waving her over into the kitchen. Quinn slung her arm through Mercedes and the four of them headed over to Rachel and Mrs. Shue. "Mrs. Shuester and I were just talking about you," Rachel announced.

"It's Emma, remember, Rachel?" Mrs. Shuester said. "I'm not your teacher anymore." She smiled warmly over at Quinn. "Hello, Quinn."

Quinn smiled in return. "Hi, Emma," she replied. It felt extremely weird to call their former guidance counselor by her first name. She wasn't even going to try with Mr. Shue. That just wasn't going to work.

"Rachel was telling me that you're working full-time at the hospital now," Emma said, adding with a grin, "and that you're even dating a doctor."

She shot Rachel a look; trust Rachel to bring up one of the few things she really didn't want to talk about tonight. "Well, technically he's not a doctor yet. He's still an intern."

"Still," Emma said, "it's sounds like you're doing very well for yourself. I'm proud of you, Quinn."

"Thanks," Quinn said, smiling softly. She remembered the many times she had spent in Emma's office, discussing the chaos her life had been during her pregnancy, and afterwards as well. Emma had even helped her with her decision to become a nurse. So, really, Quinn owed a lot of who she had become to Emma.

The sound of drums suddenly filled the room, the strumming of a guitar quickly following. "Looks like Finn has finally gotten around to showing Puck and Artie the music room," Rachel said. Quinn followed Rachel's gaze to open door at the far end of the living room, which led to what Finn had deemed as his music room. He had his own little band set up there, amps and all, although Quinn was quite sure he only ever used to drums. She should have known that was where Puck was.

Mercedes looked excited as they started playing the beginning of one of their Glee club favorites, _Somebody to Love_. "Now the fun begins." She sent Quinn a quickly look of approval. "Mind if I join the boys?"

"Go ahead," she said.

Mercedes rushed off, Kurt, Rachel and Tina following quickly after. Not even a few seconds later, Mr. Shue and the others headed in the same direction, leaving just Quinn and Emma. Music had been what tied all of them all together, so it was no surprise that as soon as the music started playing, everyone was drawn to it.

"Are you okay?" Emma was looking at her with a small frown. "You look kind of pale."

"I'm fine," Quinn said. "I've just been kind of...nervous about tonight."

A look of understanding dawned on Emma's face. "You're worried about Puck?"

Quinn looked at her in surprise. "You know?"

Emma chuckled. "Will and Puck see each other a lot, what with Will's horrible history with cars. Puck's always having to fix something or other. But they talk a lot, too. Puck even helps out with the Glee club from time to time. So, needless to say, he told Will about your breakup and Will told me." Her lips twisted into an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry. I'm probably out of line bringing it up."

"No, it's okay," Quinn said, giving her a reassuring smile. She really didn't mind at all, actually. Emma was a guidance counselor and if there was one subject Quinn needed guidance on, it was this. "It's just that we didn't leave things on the best terms. I mean, the last thing I said to him was that I didn't want him here. He wasn't happy in New York, you see. He had come to the city with a list full of expectations and after over a year of living here, none of them had been met. I was going to school to be a nurse and he'd dropped out of the community college he was going to, and he just felt like he was going nowhere. One day, he just decided to leave. I begged him to stay, but he had made up his mind. He straight up told me that he didn't think our relationship was a good enough reason to stick around. And that…well, obviously that hurt. A lot. And so I told him to go, that I didn't want him here either, that he was just holding me back, and so he left."

"You know," Emma said, "I have a really hard time believing either of you really meant what you said. Just from what I've heard from Will's conversations with Puck, I know he regrets leaving things the way he did. So maybe tonight will be a good thing. You and Puck can clear the air about how you left things."

She sighed. "Yeah..."

Emma put an arm around her shoulder, giving her a reassuring squeeze. "The hard part is going to be seeing each other again for the first time. Once you get past the awkward hellos, you'll both get back into the old spring again and you'll wonder why you were worrying so much in the first place."

"I hope so."

"Well, I _know _so." Emma lips twisted into a grin. "Trust me. I'm a professional. Now how about we go join the others? I think they're missing their twelfth member."

Quinn nodded, knowing she'd have to go sooner or later. They walked together to Finn's music room. There was something comforting about her former counselor and it was good to have her by her side as the moment she'd been dreading for weeks finally came to fruition. The room was much too small to be holding the eleven former Glee clubbers, as well as their former coach, and so she and Emma decided to stay in the doorway. The earlier song had just ended. Finn signaled the start of a new one with the tapping of his drumsticks, and then the guitar came in and a familiar voice started singing:

_Woke up in London yesterday_  
_Found myself in the city near Piccadilly_  
_Don't really know how I got here_  
_I got some pictures on my phone_

Her eyes fell to the corner of the room. Her stomach lurched. There he was. He looked the same as when he'd left her, meaning he looked amazing. His eyes were closed, lost in the lyrics, a smile on his face as he passed the song on to Finn.

_New names and numbers that I don't know_  
_Address to places like Abbey Road_  
_Day turns to night, night turns to whatever we want_  
_We're young enough to say_

He joined Finn again in the chorus, and she listened, captivated by the voice she'd missed so much. A smile came to her lips; she couldn't help it, she'd missed hearing him sing so much. Above all, though, she'd just missed _him_.

_Oh this has gotta be the good life_  
_This has gotta be the good life_  
_This could really be a good life, good life_

_Say oh, got this feeling that you can't fight_  
_Like this city is on fire tonight_  
_This could really be a good life_  
_A good, good life_

He took over again. Her eyes were latched on him; she couldn't look away even if she wanted to. His lips twisted into a huge smile as he looked around the room, and that was when he saw her.

_To my friends in New York, I say hello_  
_My friends in L.A. they don't know_  
_Where I've been for the past few years or so_  
_Paris to China to Colorado._

Finn started singing:

_Sometimes there's airplanes I can' t jump out_  
_Sometimes there's bullshit that don't work now_  
_We are god of stories but please tell me  
What there is to complain about_

Their eyes locked. His smile faded; hers didn't. In fact, it only widened, because she hadn't thought seeing him again would feel so amazing. Then, as if encouraged by her, his smile returned and he joined Finn once more:

_When you're happy like a fool_  
_Let it take you over_  
_When everything is out_  
_You gotta take it in_

_Oh this has gotta be the good life_  
_This has gotta be the good life_  
_This could really be a good life, good life_

_Say oh, got this feeling that you can't fight_  
_Like this city is on fire tonight_  
_This could really be a good life_  
_A good, good life_

His eyes never left hers, his smiled never faltering. She met his gaze with a confidence she hadn't even known herself capable. It was as if here in this moment, everything that had happened between them had been thrown out the window, and all of her worrying had been for nothing.

_Hopelessly_  
_I feel like there might be something that I'll miss_  
_Hopelessly_  
_I feel like the window closes oh so quick_  
_Hopelessly_  
_I'm taking a mental picture of you now_  
_'Cuz hopelessly_  
_The hope is we have so much to feel good about_

_Oh this has gotta be the good life_  
_This has gotta be the good life_  
_This could really be a good life, good life_

_Say oh, got this feeling that you can't fight_  
_Like this city is on fire tonight_  
_This could really be a good life_  
_A good, good life_

Finally, he tore his eyes away from her, focusing on the others as he and Finn came to the end of the song.

_To my friends in New York, I say hello_  
_My friends in L.A. they don't know_  
_Where I've been for the past few years or so_  
_Paris to China to Colorado._

_Sometimes there's airplanes I can' t jump out_  
_Sometimes there's bullshit that don't work now_  
_We are god of stories but please tell me  
What there is to complain about_

Quinn realized a few seconds too late that the song had ended. She quickly joined in on the enthusiastic rounds of applause, her eyes still on him. He set his guitar down, high-fived Finn and Artie, and began making his way through the others, towards her. She watched him come, heart pounding uncontrollably in her chest as he sought her gaze once more. She suddenly felt like they were the only people in the room.

After what felt like ages, he finally closed the distance between them, his smile gentle as he stared intensely down at her. "Hey."

She took a deep breath. This was it. "Hey."

* * *

**A/N: **Yes, I'm leaving it on that wonderful little cliffhanger, but who knows, maybe if you guys leave me some nice reviews, I might write faster and therefore get the next chapter up faster too...just a suggestion :D


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: **I meant to get this up much sooner, but it took me a bit longer than planned to write this chapter because I wanted it to be perfect. Of course, it isn't and there are still many things I would fix, but then it would be weeks before I could get it up and...well, I'm not gonna make you all wait that long! Anyway, I hope you all enjoy it! It's got _plenty _of Quick goodness.

* * *

"Hey…"

For a moment, Puck had no idea what to else to say. She was staring at him, a small smile on her face, and he was staring at her too, unable to look away. He vaguely noticed Emma pushing past them both to join the others behind them.

It was hard to think of the right thing to say in a moment like this, when he was seeing someone for the first time in two years – someone he still cared very much about (or rather someone he still loved, but he wasn't sure he was ready to admit that to himself yet). Nothing seemed right. And it was extra hard when he was finding himself lost in her beautiful eyes. That alone sent him into a hazy stupor that he struggled to find his way out of.

God, she was beautiful. What had he been thinking, leaving her? He wanted so badly to reach out and run his hands through her soft, gorgeous blond hair – and more than anything he wanted to pull her into his arms and feel her lips against his…His mind was running off into directions it really shouldn't be going. He tried to stop it, but the way she was looking at him made it almost impossible.

Quinn's quiet voice broke him out of his trance. "How've you been?"

Ah, yes, that was a good question to ask someone you hadn't seen in awhile. Why hadn't he thought of that? He cleared his throat and tried to get his jumbled mind straight. "Good. How about you?"

"I've been good," she replied.

"That's good." He was stumped again. He had known something like this could happen, so on the plane ride here, he had made sure to come up with numerous talking points just for this conversation. Of course when the big moment actually came he couldn't remember a single one.

Mercifully, as the seconds ticked by, Quinn took over. "It's really good to see you, Puck."

"Yeah," he mumbled. "It's good to see you too."

In fact, he had never felt so good. He had been on a high singing that song earlier – one of his all-time favorites – and then he'd seen her, staring at him across the room, a smile on her face all the while as she watched him sing. He didn't even know how he'd made it through the rest of the song because once his eyes had found hers, he was gone.

"You sounded really good. I missed hearing you sing."

He grinned. "I missed it too. I haven't sung in awhile."

She looked at him in surprise. "Why not?"

He gave a little shrug. "Just haven't felt like it." Really, though, singing reminded him of her and since he had wanted to do everything he could to forget her, he tended not to sing much anymore. He would still play his guitar from time to time, but he would never do more than humming along to the tune.

"I know what you mean," Quinn said. "I haven't sung in forever.

"Well, that's going to change for both of you tonight," Rachel interrupted, and then Puck felt Rachel's hand grip the back of his shoulder, pulling him backwards, before she grabbed Quinn's hand and pulled her in with the rest of the group. Hands on hips in typical Rachel Berry style, Rachel looked at them both with wild determination. "Sorry to interrupt, but there will be plenty of time to talk later. Now, we sing."

Since Puck knew at this point that they didn't have a choice (Rachel was no longer in her more laid-back, post-high school mode, she was in full on glee club, drama queen of the century Rachel Berry mode), he sent an apologetic shrug to Quinn before joining in with the others as they all started up on _Don't Stop Believing. _

It was almost two hours later when the music finally started dying down and everyone started breaking off to talk again. He was actually a little surprised at how much fun he was having. Sure, their perfectly synchronized singing despite years of no practice didn't make a lot of sense, and yes, it was rather cheesy, but he found it refreshing to spend time with the few people in his life that really mattered to him. And then there was the fact that he hadn't realized how much he'd really missed singing, not just in general, but with all of these people.

He was damn hot, though. Literally. Being crowded in such a small room with so many people and dancing and singing like they had made him feel like his throat was about to close off from the heat. He made his way into the kitchen and ducked his head into the fridge before grabbing a cold water bottle.

"Can you grab me one too?"

An automatic smile came to him at the sound of her voice. He grabbed a second bottle before turning around and tossing it to Quinn.

She grinned. "Thanks."

He watched her take a long sip from the bottle, enjoying the way her eyes closed in pleasure as she drunk it down, and the flushed look on her face as she leaned heavily against the counter, her dress clinging a little more tightly than normal due to the barely visible sweat on her chest..

He couldn't help the smirk on his face; she was just too good to look at. "Fun stuff, eh?"

"Mmm, yeah." She took another sip and he tried to hide his grin. "It's been so long since we've done this. I missed it."

"Me too." His eyes darted around the room as he sipped at his water before landing back on her. "So I hear you're dating a doctor."

Quinn stiffened. "He's not a..." She shook her head, frowning slightly. "Yeah, his name's Ryan."

"Ryan." He tested the name out, not even bothering to hide his distaste, and took another drink of his water. "Hmm."

She arched an eyebrow. "What does that mean?"

He played innocent. "What?"

"The way you said Ryan."

"What way?"

She gave him an exasperated look and he just smiled because he'd missed that look a hell of a lot more than he should have.

"You wanna get out of here?" he asked.

Her face twisted from annoyance to surprise. "Get out of here?"

"Yeah. It's so stuffy in here. I need a breather. Let's go for a walk or something."

He didn't know why he was feeling so much more confident now. It must have had to do with the singing or something. It put him in a good mood, a confident mood and he felt like he had to do something about Quinn now before he lost it and chickened out.

She blinked a couple of times. "Okay."

"Good." He started walking for the door. She followed a few steps behind, looking a bit unsure about herself. He stopped at the door and put a hand on her forearm. "It really is amazing to see you again, Quinn."

She just smiled, murmuring that she felt the same, and he put his hand on the small of her back as he led her down the hall.

**888**

Something was wrong. This whole thing was wrong. There had to be some sort of catch. It was just too…_easy_. Quinn had spent weeks worrying about seeing Puck again – had even made herself sick to her stomach with thoughts of what could go wrong. Yet here they were, walking slowly down the New York sidewalk, laughing as they reminisced about one particular day in Glee, when Mercedes and Santana had made fools of themselves when they'd had a literal sing-off in front of the whole Glee club before almost getting into a fist fight.

"I mean, I get it, obviously," Puck said. "I'm hot." He gave her wink as he flung his arm out and flexed his muscles. "Who wouldn't want this?"

Grinning, she raised an eyebrow. "I'll pass."

He laughed. "Come on, baby, you know as well as I do that you're the one girl who never could resist this. That's never gonna change."

She slapped his annoyingly perfect toned arm. He was probably right. "Shut up."

Yes, this was definitely wrong.

They were supposed to be fighting, and this verging on flirting thing they had going on was certainly not that. And even if they weren't fighting, they shouldn't have been so comfortable with each other. It should have been awkward and uncomfortable and they should have been dying to get out of each other's presence. This was just too perfect.

They passed a cop car and Quinn noticed a man slumped in the back seat, staring out the window with a scowl. Puck stopped, glancing around with an intrigued look on his face. "I wonder if someone was murdered or something."

She snorted. Of course Puck would jump to that conclusion. "I'm pretty sure they're just stopping in for coffee," she said, pointing to the coffee shop next to them, where two police officers were indeed sitting inside, lost in conversation as they sipped at their coffee.

Puck grinned. "Cops are so badass. They go catch the bad guys and then stop for cup of coffee and a donut on their way to jail. It's awesome."

Chuckling at his randomness, she nodded. "Mhmm…"

They continued walking, a smile still on her face. Puck's candidness always amused her. He used to bring up the most random things, most of which was utterly pointless but always ended up keeping her entertained. She was glad to know that aspect of him hadn't changed; it was one of the things she had loved most about him.

She looked over at him only to find that he was looking at her too. "What?"

He just shrugged, smiling softly. "I don't know."

She raised an eyebrow. "You don't know?"

"Nope." He stared back ahead. "Well, I guess I do."

She chuckled before playfully nudging him. "What is it then?"

"I guess I just missed this." He looked at her again and their eyes met. "You."

She could feel the blush coming to her face as her eyes fell to the ground. "I missed this too…I missed _you_."

They fell into silence, walking slowly together. His hand kept brushing her side and she wondered when he was finally going to gain the courage to hold her hand. She was surprised he hadn't already, actually. She wanted him to. She knew she shouldn't – because she _did _have a boyfriend and even though hand-holding wasn't necessarily cheating it was pushing the boundaries – but she couldn't help it. She had missed Puck so unbelievably much and she couldn't even remember the last time he had held her hand - touched her, kissed her.

To distract herself from the urges she really shouldn't be having, she decided to bring up something she had wanted to talk to him about for a long time now. "How's your mom, Puck?"

"She's really good, actually. The cancer's gone, for now at least, and she's pretty much completely recovered."

"That's great," she said.

When Rachel had told her over a year ago that Puck's mother had been diagnosed with breast cancer, Quinn's first instinct had been to go to him, to be there for him because she knew he needed the support. Of course she had been too much of a coward to do that. Her next instinct had been to at least give him a phone call. She hadn't done that either. The number of times when she'd been _that _close to calling him was countless, but in the end, the fear of talking to him again after the way they had ended things won out.

"Puck, I'm so sorry I never called or anything. I wanted to. I thought about it all the time. I was just too scared to do it. I was tempted to even just call your mom, let her know I was thinking of her, but I didn't want her to tell you I'd called, so I never did. It was selfish of me and I regret it very much."

"It's okay, Quinn." He looked down at her with a sincerity that told her he really meant it; he wasn't holding anything against her. "I probably would have acted the same way if I were in your shoes. My mom understands too." He looked away, his eyes growing distant. "I did want you to call, though. I waited everyday for you to. But I knew it wouldn't happen. You were too stubborn. And so was I."

"Yeah..." It really was a good thing Rachel and Finn decided to have this engagement party or she and Puck would still be trying to exist without each other. In a way, she had always known that it would take some meddling from her friends to get her and Puck to see each other again. They were both too stubborn to do it themselves.

She stopped suddenly as she set foot in familiar territory. A sheepish smile came to her lips; she hadn't even realized they had been heading this way. Part of her wondered if she'd done it on purpose. "That's actually my apartment building over there," she said, pointing to the building across the street.

"Is it?" Puck crossed his arms, a grin on his face. She had a strong feeling he was expecting her to invite him up.

"Do you want to go up?" she asked. "I could show you around. Not that there's much to see."

"Sounds good to me."

She nodded and they crossed the street together. She wasn't sure this was a good idea, but it was a little too late for her to back out. They needed to talk, though. There were certain, more important issues they had yet to discuss and it would be good to do it in the privacy of her home…She just hoped she'd be able to keep herself from doing anything she'd regret.

**888**

Quinn unlocked the door before swinging it open and leading him inside. Puck glanced around. It was a pretty nice place. Better than he would ever been able to afford. She had to be doing pretty well for herself.

He gave an appreciative nod. "Nice place."

She looked a little nervous as she twiddled with the keys in her hands. "It's so small."

"Who cares? It's your own. That's all that matters. I'd kill to have my own place."

"Why don't you?" she asked. "You don't have to live with your mom, do you?"

He didn't have to, he supposed, but he felt like he needed to. His mom was still pretty weak and she needed all the help she could get. Plus, there was no way he'd be able to afford a decent place anyway. Quinn didn't need to know that, though. "Mom needs me," was all he said.

"That's so sweet of you, taking care of her, I mean. Not a lot of people would make the sacrifice you've made."

He shrugged. "It's nothing." Honestly, he didn't feel like he sacrificed anything. He was there for his mom because he had nowhere else to be. Yeah, he would have made sure she was taken care of no matter where he was, and he sure as hell would have made sure he was by her side for the chemo and all that, but he wouldn't have uprooted his life for her like Quinn seemed to think he would.

Not wanting to focus on this anymore, he nodded towards the living room. "You wanna sit down or something?"

"Oh, yeah," she said quickly. "Sorry, I wasn't thinking…"

He followed her into the living room, where a black leather couch, a coffee table, and small TV were the only occupants. The pictures littered along the coffee table immediately caught his eye and a big grin came to his lips.

"Beth." He instinctively grabbed one of the pictures. It was one of the ones from Shelby's most recent letter – just a close-up of Beth. He didn't know what the situation was, but he imagined someone was doing something to annoy her, because her smile was a mischievous one, and her eyes were narrowed in a teasing glare that suggested she was keeping a close eye on the one behind the camera. His favorite part – something he'd noticed the moment he'd first seen the picture – was the light brown eyebrow that was arched just slightly over her dark eye; she was all Quinn.

Quinn took a seat next to him and looked down at the picture he was holding. "I was looking at them earlier today."

He just shook his head, grinning ear to ear as he looked back at Quinn. "God, she is so _you _it's not even funny."

"Really? All I see when I look at her is you."

"It's the hair," he said, looking back down at the picture. "Everything else is you, though."

"I don't know. I think we'll have to agree to disagree on that."

His eyes moved to Quinn again. His smile softened. Every time one of Shelby's letters would arrive, he would lock himself in his bedroom and spend hours looking at the pictures of his daughter. And not one single moment went by that he didn't wish Quinn was there with him, that they could experience getting to know their daughter in the only way they could together. Now, as he sat here next to her, staring down at the stack of pictures she'd collected over the years, he wondered if he'd ever be able to go back to doing that by himself. He had a strong feeling he wouldn't.

Quinn was looking right at him, lips twisting into a frown. Preparing himself, he took a slow and steady breath; he could tell things were about to turn serious.

"Did you really mean it, Puck? Before you left, when you said that our relationship wasn't worth you staying. Because I never meant what I said about not wanting you here, that you were holding me back. I was just reacting instictively to make it seem like your words didn't hurt me. But I just...I never really knew if you meant it or not…"

He cut her off before she could say anything else, not wanting her to think for even a second longer that he had meant what he'd said. "No."

He saw a spark of relief cross her face and it literally crushed him to know that, all this time, she had actually believed him. His hand grazed her knee. He needed her to understand how truly sorry he was – for what he'd said, for the way he'd left things, for _everything_.

"I didn't mean it. Not for a second. I was just being…" A bitter smile formed on his lips. "Stubborn. I was unhappy with my own life and I was jealous of your own. You were doing so well, and I, well…wasn't."

"Why didn't you ever tell me? We could have talked about it. We could have figured things out together."

He lifted an eyebrow. He didn't think it would have been that easy. "Well, first of all, I didn't want to tell you. I didn't want you to see me the way I saw myself – as a failure. "

"Puck, I wouldn't have—."

He raised a hand to stop her. He needed to get this out. It was over two years in the making. "Second of all, even if I had wanted to tell you, it's not like you would have actually had the time to listen. You were so busy with school and work that it got to the point that we were lucky to have a five minute phone conversation, let alone actually talk in person. I mean, God I loved you, Quinn, but we were falling apart and you didn't even have the time to notice."

"I noticed," she muttered, and, as if ashamed by her admittance, she looked away from him.

"Oh yeah? Then why didn't you ever do anything about it?"

She glared at him. "Why didn't you?"

"Because," he said, shoulders sagging as he let out a long sigh, "I had finally accepted what I should have accepted way back in high school."

"And what was that?"

"That I wasn't good enough for you."

His words were met with silence. She stared at him, eyes narrowing as she slowly shook her head. "Puck…" He could see tears forming in her eyes. Great. Now he was making her cry. "How could you ever think that?"

He wrung his hands together, frustrated, as he tried to find the right words to explain what he'd known for awhile now. "You're like…perfect. You knew what you wanted to be before we even graduated. You set goals for yourself and you reached every single one. You're smart and hard-working and you never give up. You have everything going for you. And I don't. I never did. I was the bully who threw kids in the dumpster to make me feel better about myself. I barely got by in school – probably only graduated because I had you to help me out. I couldn't get into any decent colleges, not even on a football scholarship. I've never been anything great, and I'm never going to be. You, on the other hand, are meant for greatness. You're already there, actually."

She was shaking her head back and forth, as if in complete denial of everything he was. "No, Puck. No. You're so wrong, it's unreal." She put a firm hand on his knee. "First off, I'm not perfect. Far from it. Second of all, you're focusing on all the positives in my life and all the negative in yours. Have you forgotten who I am, Puck? I'm the girl who cheated on her boyfriend with his best friend. I'm the president of the celibacy club who got knocked up at sixteen. I'm the girl who _lied _about the identity of my baby's father for months. I'm the girl who treated _you _like dirt, just because I didn't want people to see me for the hypocrite I was. I'm the girl who tortured people like Rachel just because she was different. Does that sound _perfect_ to you, Puck?"

"That was the old you, though. You've changed."

"And you haven't?"

"Obviously I haven't," he scoffed. "I'm 22 years old and I'm still working at Burt's, not to mention still living with my mom."

Quinn let out an exasperated sigh. "Why are you only focusing on the outward achievements? Who cares that you're working at Burt's? The fact of the matter is that you _have _a job, and you're using that job to provide for your sister and mother, who wouldn't be able to get by without you. You took care of your mother when she was going through one of the darkest times of her life, and you've taken the responsibility for your sister in the way that your father should have. You're taking care of your family, Puck, and from what I know, you're doing an amazing job of it. What's there to be ashamed of? So you dropped out of college. You're only 22. You can go back any time you want. And you haven't figured out what you want to do as your career. Once again, you're 22. You've got plenty of time to figure things out.

"Did you even listen to the words you and Finn were singing tonight?" she continued. "You could have the good life, Puck, but only if you let yourself have it. You're the only one standing in your way." Letting out a long breath, Quinn's face relaxed slightly. "So, you've got to stop feeling sorry for yourself. Because I have so much respect for you, for how hard you've worked to provide for your mother and sister, for how much you _love _them, for putting them before yourself. Puck, I'm being a hundred percent truthful when I tell you that you are the best man I know."

Unable to help it, he gave her a crooked grin and asked, "Better than your doctor?"

She let out a weak chuckle and, without even a hint of hesitance, nodded. "Better than Ryan."

"Well, I'm not sure I believe _that_," he said, leaning back into the couch and throwing his hands behind his head, "but thanks for everything else. I guess it kind of puts thing in a different perspective – a better one than my own, obviously."

Really, though, she was right. Always was. And he needed to hear the harsh truth of it all from her in order to actually believe it. She was the only one who could ever really get through to him.

She scooted closer to him, their knees brushing as his arm moved to rest around her shoulders. "You're way too hard on yourself, you know that right?"

He gave her a pointed look. "So are you."

"Yeah, but you're a hundred times worse. When did you start caring so much about what other people thought of you?"

"I don't know…sometime between moving here and leaving again."

"That's very specific."

He chuckled. "I really don't know when it happened. I didn't even realize how bad I was until today. I mean, I knew I was kind of bad, since Leah tells me I look depressed practically every day, but I didn't think anything of it, because it's Leah and I never take her seriously."

Quinn laughed quietly before resting her head on his shoulder. "You really should. She's a smart girl."

"She misses you, you know," he said, looking down at her seriously.

"I miss her too," Quinn murmured.

"Believe it or not, my mom misses you too." He paused, staring down at her hand, which was still on his knee. "You should come visit sometime..."

"I should." She tipped her head up to look at him. "I haven't been home in over two years. It's always my mom who comes to see me, not the other way around."

"You could bring your boyfriend," he added with a smirk. He didn't mean that – not for a second – but he wanted to see how she would react. From what he'd gathered about her boyfriend, she didn't seem to like him that much.

"I don't know about that," she said, her lips twisting into more of a cringe than smile.

Puck leaned forward again, looking at her seriously. "Can I ask you something personal?"

She arched an eyebrow. "Depends. Like if you're going to ask if I'm sleeping with Ryan, you're not going to get an answer."

His eyes narrowed. "I actually wasn't going to ask that, but since you brought it up, are you?" She swatted his arm and he grinned before continuing on with his original question. "Why are with this guy? Every time I mention him, you get this look on your face, like…like the idea of talking about him is about as unappealing as spending 24 hours straight with Rachel."

"But I like spending time with Rachel."

He waved her off. "You know what I mean. You just don't look very excited about him, that's all. I don't know about you, but if that's how I was feeling about my girlfriend, I'd be wondering if we should even be in a relationship."

She stared across the room, a distant look on her face. He could tell he was bringing out a complicated subject and she wouldn't be able to properly answer, because she probably didn't know the answers herself. "He's a really good guy, Puck," she finally said.

"No offense, but that's a really dumb excuse." She sent him a feisty glare, but he stood by his response. "Just because he's a good guy doesn't mean you need to stay with him. Besides," he added with a smirk, "I'm better than him, you said so yourself."

"It's just complicated," she said, releasing a heavy sigh.

"No, it's not. You either see a future with him or you don't. If you don't, you break up with him, if you do, you stay with him. It's pretty simple."

"Not everything's black and white, Puck."

"No, most of the time it's not, but I think with this guy it is. You think you could marry him someday?"

"I…" Her face scrunched up in obvious frustration. Her hesitance already told him the answer, but he wanted to hear it straight from her. "Do you?" he pushed.

With a sigh of acceptance, she shook her head. "No."

"Then break up with him," he said simply.

She let out a huff of annoyance. "Can we stop talking about this?"

He crossed his arms. "Fine."

Normally, he would have pushed the topic further, but this was the first time they'd seen each other in two years and he figured he didn't really have the right to push her buttons. Yet.

"Thank you." She lifted up her legs to rest on the coffee table before looking back at him, a glimmer of mischief in her eyes. "And I'm not."

"Huh?"

"I'm not sleeping with Ryan."

"Oh."

He was pretty sure he didn't stop smiling the whole rest of the night.

**888**

It was much too late by the time Puck decided to go, or rather when Quinn decided to send him back to Rachel and Finn's. She hadn't paid any attention to the clock, so when he pointed out that it was past midnight she got over her surprise quickly and told him he should go. He hadn't wanted to (and she hadn't wanted him to either), but they both knew it would be over-pushing the boundaries of whatever the heck their relationship was if he stayed the night. Besides, Rachel and Mercedes had called numerous times in the past few hours and Quinn didn't want them thinking any more than they probably already were.

She walked with him to the door. He leaned against it, a soft smile on his face as he gently gazed down at her. She stood there, suddenly feeling a bit awkward, and fiddled with the hem of her shirt.

Puck's hand grazed her shoulder. "I'll see you tomorrow."

The touch of his hand putting her in a temporary daze, she squeaked out, "Tomorrow?"

"Yeah." He looked suddenly confused. "I thought everyone was having lunch before we all went home. Are you not going?"

"Oh, that." She laughed a bit to herself. What was Puck doing to her? "Yeah, I'm going."

"Good." She froze as he touched her again, this time his hand moving down to grasp hers. "I'll see you then."

She nodded slowly and met her eyes with his. He didn't make any move to leave. Instead he stared intently at her, his eyes piercing into her own. In that moment, she was so sure he was going to kiss her – she _wanted _him to, as much as she shouldn't – but a second later he turned around, opened the door and stepped out into the hall. A little surprised at his sudden departure, she stepped out after him, holding her hand up in a little wave.

He smiled back at her before turning the other way and heading down the hall. She watched him disappear around the corner before pulling herself back into the apartment.

"Well," she muttered to herself, "that went well."

She felt like she was in some sort of daze. Her mind was all fuzzy and she had a headache and she was starting to seriously question if this night had even been real. It had been perfect. Actually, it had been beyond perfect. There hadn't even really been any fighting. That in itself was the biggest miracle of all. She and Puck used to fight all the time. In some twisted way, they actually kind of enjoyed it. But going into tonight, she hadn't wanted any sort of fights. She had expected it, though. It just seemed a certainty. But this night had not met her expectations; it went far beyond it.

Walking slowly back into the living room, she slid back down onto the couch, the exhaustion of her very long and very interesting day finally hitting her. She didn't know what was going to happen with her and Puck, not a single clue, but what she did know was that this night certainly had not resulted in any sort of closure in their relationship. It seemed now that it had instead sealed the deal in her relationship with Ryan. At least she knew what she had to do with him now.

As for Puck and their relationship, she still had a lot of thinking she needed to do. In the meantime, though, she was just happy that they were finally moving on from their past. Now they could move on with their lives – and hopefully together.

**888**

"You're back late."

Grimacing, Puck twisted around at the sound of the voice coming from the dark living room. A guilty smile overtook his face as he saw Finn sitting on the couch, the TV buzzing softly in the background.

"Yeah."

Finn chuckled. "Care to elaborate?"

Puck flung himself down onto the couch next to Finn and grinned. "Not really."

"Rachel's fast asleep. She pretty much exhausted herself with everything today, and when she's exhausted like this, nothing can wake her. So you don't have to worry about her coming in and bombarding you with questions. I won't ask too many either. I just want to know if you and Quinn made up and stuff. I mean, I'm thinking you did because you've been gone for hours and you don't look too unhappy, but it'd be nice to have some confirmation."

"We did," Puck said. "We talked everything out and…we're good."

Finn smiled. "That's really great, Puck. I'm glad."

Puck let out a long yawn. "Yup…"

Standing up, Finn patted Puck's back. "You look tired. I'll let you get some sleep."

Puck nodded, bidding him goodnight before stretching out his legs and laying on his back. As his eye lids drooped and sleep started taking over, he thought that this was the best night he'd had in over two years. Twenty-four hours ago, he had thought it would be one of the worst; how wrong he had been.

He just hoped Quinn would break up with her boyfriend soon, because he was pretty sure he and Quinn were meant to be together. Actually, no, he was _positive _they were. Even during all the time they'd been apart he had known that. She was the only girl for him. He hadn't ever given another girl more than a second glance because he knew it would be a waste of time. None of them mattered when they weren't _her_.

Puck was willing to wait for her – give her time to figure things out – but after tonight he wasn't sure he would be able to wait very long. He _needed _to be with her. Actually, he had no idea how the hell he'd lived without her all this time. So he'd give her time, but if she took too long, he might just have to take matters into his own hands.

Flipping onto his side, he allowed his eyes to finally close, a small smile still etched on his lips as he drifted off to sleep.

* * *

**Thanks for reading and please leave a review if you can!**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: **So this is actually the second to last chapter. The next one will be patching everything up, but I may leave room for a sequel of some sorts. It really depends on if you guys want one or not. So we'll see…Anyway, thanks to everyone who reviewed last chapter! Honestly, the reviews are what fuel me to write, so without you guys there really would be no story.

I hope you all enjoy this next chapter!

* * *

Quinn treaded slowly down the hall, exhausted after her long, but enjoyable day. After having a very entertaining lunch with her former Glee club, she had unfortunately had to say goodbye to them all. Most of them were heading back to their homes, spread across the country, that night, but she had to get to the hospital by 3 for her shift. For that reason, she had been forced to leave them sooner than she wanted to. It had been a bittersweet time, made better by knowing that she would see them soon in less than a year, when Rachel and Finn got married.

The only truly tough goodbye had been with Puck. She felt like they'd only just begun to get to the bottom of all their issues. She needed more time to talk with him, to tackle their problems head on together. Instead, less than twenty-four hours after he came back into her life, he was now on a plane back to Ohio and she was here in New York, living her own separate life.

She couldn't help but wonder if now that he was gone again her life would go back to the one she had been living these past two years, without him. He had told her he would call her and she had promised him the same, but the pessimistic side of her doubted this new friendship they were forming could work. Under no circumstances did she want him out of her life again, and she knew he felt the same, but last night had been a brief step out of reality. They were seeing each other for the first time in a very long time and it had gone more perfect than either could have planned. Now, though, they were back in reality, and she had a strong feeling their so-called friendship would be a lot more complicated in the real world.

As she reached her apartment, her cell phone buzzed in her purse. She dug into it and pulled the phone out. A smile came to her face as she saw who it was and her thoughts from only seconds earlier were lost as she read his text.

_God help me, I'm back in Lima. But on the upside, on the plane ride here Mr. Shue and I finally came up with the perfect song for us all to sing at Rachel and Finn's wedding. It's late, so I'll call you tomorrow and tell you about it. _

She read the text a couple more times, still reeling over the fact that it was actually Puck texting her. She had spent so long without him in her life that it was going to take some time getting used to him being there again.

The text soothed her earlier worries. He was going to call her tomorrow, and if he didn't she would call him so he could tell her whatever he and Mr. Shue were planning. She liked that he had given her a reason to call him. Not that just calling to talk about nothing in particular was a bad thing, but she felt less awkward about it all having an actual excuse to talk to him.

After spending much too long standing at her front door and reading Puck's text over and over, she opened the door and stepped inside.

"Quinn."

She jumped at the sound of her name. Heart beating wildly as she glanced quickly around her apartment, her eyes narrowed as her gaze landed in the living room, where Ryan was sitting on the couch. He was holding a photo in his hand as he looked over at her with a frown on his face. A few of her yearbooks sat on the coffee table. In the mood to revisit their high school days, she and Puck had taken them out last night, and in her rush to get out this morning, she hadn't thought to put them away. She took a few steps forward, the shock of seeing him there quickly being won out by a rush of growing anger.

"What are you doing?" she asked through clenched teeth.

Sensing her anger, Ryan stood. He didn't look too happy himself. "Calm down, Quinn. I called you an hour ago because I was here to pick you up for dinner. You told me to let myself in to wait for you. All this stuff was on the coffee table when I got here. So don't get mad at me, Quinn. It's not like I snuck through your stuff. I couldn't help that all this was here in the open for anyone to see."

Her anger simmered down slightly. He was right. It wasn't his fault at all. When he had called earlier, she had completely forgotten about all the stuff she had left – the yearbooks, the pictures, Shelby's letters. Virtually everything she'd been keeping from Ryan she had left for him to find.

She sighed as she joined him in the living room. She looked down at the evidence of the life he had no idea about, the one she had treasured above and beyond the lie she was living with him. "Ryan, I'm sorry."

Staring down at the photo in his hand, he shook his head. He didn't look angry anymore, just sad. "I just don't understand, Quinn." He turned the picture around and showed it to her. It was a picture of her on a hospital bed, holding a newborn Beth. "You had a baby."

It wasn't a question, but rather a statement. Still she gave a tentative nod, overwhelming guilt taking over her. Ryan shook his head again. "You had a baby," he said, his voice rising as he glared over at her, "and yet in the six months we've been together, you didn't even think to mention it?"

"I wasn't ready to tell you," she defended.

"Why? Did you think it would change how I felt about you? Did you think I would be ashamed to be with you or something? Because I wouldn't have been, Quinn. Not at all."

That wasn't it at all. She'd never even given any thought to what he would think of it because not once had she ever considered telling him at all. She didn't want him to know simply because telling him would mean she would be opening her whole self up to him, and she wasn't ready to do that, not even close.

But she didn't tell him that, knowing it would only result in pain on his part. And this night had been painful enough already.

Seeing her distressed look, he gave a sigh of resignation and patted the spot on the couch next to him. She sat down, not knowing what else to say. Truthfully, she just wanted him to leave. She still wasn't ready to talk to him about his, and she realized now that she probably never would be.

Ryan didn't say anything. He looked right at her, clearly expecting her to start explaining. She decided she at least owed him a little something, so she began, "I had her when I was sixteen. I was young and confused and…well, there was a lot of drama involving me and the baby's father, but long story short, we weren't ready to be parents. So we decided to do what was best for her and put her up for adoption."

When Quinn looked at Ryan again, he was still frowning. "Maybe I can understand why you didn't tell me about the baby, but I was looking through your yearbooks and I saw things, simple things, nothing life shattering like a baby, and yet you never told me…Like you were on your school's glee club, a glee club that you went on to win nationals with." Eyes narrowing, he looked at her accusingly. "Why wouldn't you tell me something like that? I'd be bragging about something like that until I was old and gray. But you never even mentioned it. I mean, for God's sake, Quinn, I didn't even know you could sing."

She looked away from him. The guilt was getting to be too much for her. All she could muster was another apology. She had no excuses for him.

Groaning in frustration, Ryan stood and paced the short span of the living room, rubbing his eyes tiredly. Finally, he stopped in front of her. She could feel his eyes on her, so she looked up to meet his gaze. She almost winced at the sheer pain in his eyes. She had known that one day she would hurt him, but she had never thought she would hurt him this much.

"You don't trust me, Quinn," he said firmly.

"Ryan...it's not that I don't trust you. It's just that there are certain aspects of my life that I wasn't ready to share with you."

"Glee club, though? I don't understand why something like that would be so hard to share with me. And then there's the issue of your friends. Let's see, I met Rachel and Finn one time and then, hmm, let's see there was…" He pretended to think for a second before angrily throwing up his hands. "Oh, wait, there _was _no one else! Those are the only two of your friends you ever bothered to introduce me to."

"I don't have many friends that live in New York, Ryan," she muttered.

"Then why didn't you invite me to Rachel and Finn's engagement party last night? You said a lot of your old friends would be there. You could've introduced me to them then." She couldn't defend this one. He was right once again. "But you didn't even think to ask me," he continued. "You wouldn't even have told me about the party if I hadn't asked you to have dinner with my parents that night, which is yet another issue in itself."

Ryan let out another frustrated sigh before crossing his arms and staring expectantly at Quinn. She shook her head, tears coming to her eyes. She didn't know what she could possibly say to make him understand. "I'm sorry, Ryan. What else do you want me to say?"

As she gave up, he seemed to as well. His shoulders sagged, his voice raspy and tired as he went on, "I want to know why I wasted six months on a girl I thought could be the one. It's clear now that I was never going to be enough for you. And I want to know why that is. I feel like you owe me that."

There was nothing to lose now by telling him, and he was right – she did owe it to him – so she nodded and tried to find the right words to explain. "I haven't moved on from certain things in my life…certain people." Like her baby's father. She was still in love with Puck. But for some reason, she just couldn't bring herself to say it.

For a few seconds, Ryan just stared at her, then, taking her by surprise, his eyes softened into a look of understanding. He pointed to the yearbook. "Is the father in there?"

She glanced down at the page it was open to. It was the picture of their glee club, their very first year together. Even though it had been taken during one of the hardest times of her life, she couldn't help but smile at the sight of it. She was standing next to her then-boyfriend Finn, Puck standing a few people down from her. Her finger moved slowly to rest on the tip of Puck's mohawk.

Ryan took it in for a second before looking back at her. "You saw him last night at Rachel and Finn's party, didn't you?"

"Yes," she breathed out.

"And you still care about him, don't you?" She managed only a nod. Ryan was starting to understand why she had treated him the way she did. She just hoped he wouldn't hate her for it.

After a few agonizing seconds of silence, Ryan turned around and headed slowly towards the door. She watched him go, not knowing what to say. As he reached for the doorknob, he turned back around. "I can't be with you anymore, Quinn."

She took a deep breath. "I know."

"I thought I knew you. But right now I'm looking at a complete stranger." He didn't sound angry anymore, but rather simply resigned to the truth

"I'm so sorry," she mumbled. "I didn't mean for things to end like this."

He nodded, simply staring at her for a short moment before opening the door and leaving. As the door swung shut behind him, she felt a tear streaming down her cheek, followed shortly after by many others. She hadn't meant to let things go this far from Ryan. She hadn't thought she could hurt him this much. But she had. And there was no one to blame but herself.

She knew it was good that they were over – it should have happened a long time ago – but for things to end on such a bad note had not been her intention. Ryan was an amazing guy and he didn't deserve to be treated the way she'd treated him. No one deserved to be treated like that.

Her phone rang. She ignored it, not feeling like talking to anyone. She was beyond exhausted now. All she wanted to do was sleep so she could temporarily forget this horrible ending to an otherwise perfect day. She curled onto the couch, closed her damp eyes, and waited for sleep to mercifully take over.

**888**

Puck wore a proud smile as he admired the papers stacked in front of him. This was one of those ideas that could either turn out really awesome or come back to bite him in the ass. He was going to trust his instinct this time, though, and his instinct told him this was a good idea because, really, there was no doubt in Puck's mind that he wouldn't be the most badass cop in all of Ohio.

In the two weeks since he'd returned home from New York, Puck had done a lot of thinking – about both his future with Quinn and his future in general. And a week ago, when he was pulled over for going forty-five in a thirty zone, Puck started to toss around the idea of being a police officer. After all, pulling people over could be kind of fun when you're the one doing it. And then there was the guns…God, did he love guns.

Back when he was a little kid and his dad was still around, his dad would occasionally take him to the shooting range. He'd spend hours there, lost in his own little world, and when his dad would drag him home, he would count down the days until he got to go back. Of course his mom hated guns and hated that his dad took him there, so when his dad left, Puck never got to go back.

Instead, he lived out his high school days buying paintball guns with Finn, which he found just as entertaining as a real gun, seeing as there was paint involved. He couldn't even begin to count the hours he and Finn had spent shooting at his dad's old car that he'd left behind (his mom fully approved of this, in fact it was the only thing she actually let him shoot at). He and Finn used to have paintball wars every Saturday from the time they were ten up to when Finn learned that Puck was his girlfriend's baby daddy. Needless to say, he was damn good with guns. He never missed a shot. Ever.

All that aside, though, Puck had learned over the years that there was nothing more badass than helping people. His first couple years of high school, he used to throw the good kids, people like Artie and Kurt and anyone who made an easy target, in the dumpster just because it was fun. His last couple years, he threw the ones who used to torment those kids for justice, and he found that much more fulfilling. Now he was going to go after the bad guys as a career. That pretty much sealed the deal for him.

He wasn't usually one to make spur of the moment decisions, at least not about something so serious, but when he had thought about becoming a police officer, it had just felt so right, so he'd headed down to the Lima police station and started inquiring about joining the police force. He'd had a long talk with one of the cops about training and what the job would take before deciding this was what he really wanted to do. So he took home all the paperwork he needed to fill out to enter the training program and now here he was, finally finished. All that was left was to drop them off and wait to see if he was accepted.

Puck stared down at the paperwork. He was really doing this. He was finally going to do something with his life. He had Quinn to thank for that. She had said he was the only one in the way of him being happy with his life and she was right. It was all up to him. And now he was choosing to do something, something great, something that he was sure was going to make him happy.

"You know those corrupted police officers they were talking about on the news the other night? The ones who tailgate other cars when they're going too slow and then pull them over when they start going a little bit over the speed limit? Or the ones who give someone a ticket just for looking at them the wrong way? Yeah, that's gonna be you."

Puck rolled his eyes as he looked over into the kitchen, where Leah was leaning against the counter, smirking at him. He rolled up a napkin and threw it at her. It hit the corner of her hand.

"Wow," she deadpanned. "That hurt. Like so bad."

He grinned. "That's what you get for being annoying."

Leah took a seat across from him. "So you're really doing this, huh?"

"Yup. Think I'm crazy?"

Leah looked at him thoughtfully. "Sort of. I still kind of think you could end up being one those crazy cops, but I don't know…it also kind of seems like the perfect job for you and I'm wondering why it took this long for you to figure it out."

"I guess I just never thought I could do it," Puck said with a shrug.

Leah leaned forward in her chair, resting her hands on either side of her face as she smiled playfully at him. "Wrong answer. What you really meant to say was that going back to New York and seeing all your successful friends made you realize what a loser you are."

"That too," he said, chuckling because, unfortunately, she was right.

She cocked her head to the side. "And…?"

He mimicked her actions. "And what?"

Rolling her eyes, Leah gave him an impatient look. "And what else inspired you to make this spur of the moment decision to become a police officer?"

"I don't know." He really did, but he wanted to annoy Leah some more.

"_Quinn_," Leah said exasperatingly. "You want to be a better guy for Quinn."

"Well, yeah, that goes without saying."

He had always wanted to be a better guy for her. He might not ever be a doctor, but that didn't mean he wouldn't be someone important. He would be the guy she was proud to be with, the guy she was proud to call her boyfriend. Although they kind of had to get together at some point for all that to happen.

"If that's the case, then what exactly is going on between you both? All you told me is that you two talked and made up. But I don't have any clue what else happened."

Leah glared at him and he just smirked at her. He hadn't filled her in much on what had gone on with Quinn in New York, mostly because he was a very private person, even with family, but also because it was fun watching her squirm.

"That's because that's _all _thathappened. Seriously. We talked, we're good and now we're friends. We've been keeping in touch these past couple weeks, but that's it."

"So are you actually planning on doing something about her or are you just gonna wait around for something to happen?"

"I'll do something. I'm just giving her some time, that's all. She's got a boyfriend, you know."

Leah crossed her arms in a huff. "No, I didn't know, thank you very much."

"Yeah, well, she does. I'm not expecting them to last much longer, but until things end between them, it's best for me to stay away. I came between her and another guy once before, and I won't do it again."

"Wow. I never thought I'd see the day when my brother actually had morals." She glanced out the kitchen window and dryly added, "Look, a pig's flying."

He gave her shin a hard kick underneath the table. She let out a surprised squeak. He smiled triumphantly. "That's for all the insults you've been throwing at me."

He winced as she kicked him back. "That's for being you," she said, before reaching across the table and ruffling his non-existent hair in the way he so often did to her. She gave him a crooked smile. "Love you, bro."

**888**

She was slowly drifting off to sleep - a miracle in itself since her seemingly untiring mind was going nonstop lately, keeping her from the sleep she desperately needed – when her cell phone rang. Quinn let out a lout moan and rolled on to her back. She was tempted not to answer it, but then she thought it could be Puck and that had her springing up to grab her phone in no time.

Quinn missed Puck more than she would ever let anyone know. They had been talking on the phone almost everyday, and when they weren't talking they were more likely than not texting. She hadn't told him about Ryan yet, though. She wasn't sure why exactly, but she had a feeling that if she did tell him, he'd think she was fair game again and he'd try to get her to be with him. But she wasn't ready to be with him yet. At least she didn't think she was. She still wasn't completely sure on that subject.

Her hopes were let down as she saw it wasn't Puck. She answered it anyway, though, because she was already up, and also because it was Mercedes and it had been far too long since they'd last talked.

"Hey, Mercedes," she answered, stifling a yawn. It was only 8:30 at night, and therefore not late at all, but Quinn was completely exhausted.

Mercedes sounded impatient as she gave Quinn a brief, "Hey, girl," before proceeding to ask, "Where are you at?"

"Home."

"New York home or Ohio home?"

"Uh, New York." Quinn raised an eyebrow, sitting up slightly to lean against the head board before turning on the lamp. "What's going on, Mercedes?"

"I'm calling on behalf of Rachel and myself."

Quinn heard Kurt's very distinctive voice in the background shout, "And me!"

"And Kurt," Mercedes added, sounding strangely businesslike.

Quinn raised an eyebrow; she really didn't have a clue what was going on. "Okay…What about?"

"Rachel called me earlier and said that you haven't been around much lately. She said she has only seen you three times in three weeks and she's worried you're retreating back into your post-Puck breakup life again – you know, pulling away from everyone and all that stuff."

And _now_ Quinn knew what was going on. "Mercedes, I talked to Rachel a couple of days ago. I'm perfectly fine. It's just that work takes up a lot of my life. It has for awhile now. Believe me, I'm not pulling away. I'm actually doing really well. I'm the happiest I've been in a very long time, trust me."

"Yeah, I know."

Quinn blinked. "You do?"

Mercedes chuckled. "Yup. Rachel just made me promise to call and try to interrogate you since you wouldn't let her do it herself."

"Well, you can tell her exactly what I told you, which, coincidentally, I also told her."

"I will. While I have you on the line, though, there are a few things we need to discuss."

"Like what?"

"Noah Puckerman, that's what."

Quinn grinned. "I figured."

"Have you told him you broke up with Ryan?"

"Not yet."

Mercedes didn't sound pleased with her answer. "Why not? What exactly are you waiting for? I mean, you've been single for over three weeks now. You've got nothing standing in your way. You and Puck can be together."

Quinn sighed; she wished it could be so simple. But she and Puck lived in two separate states, and even then it wasn't so much about the long-distance relationship so much as whether or not she was really ready to be with him again. They'd been separated for a long time and she felt like jumping right back into a relationship wasn't the healthy thing to do.

She decided to change the subject, even though she knew it would lead right back to Puck anyway. "Why'd you ask me if I was in Ohio when you called?"

"Because I was hoping you'd decided that it was finally time to get your ass back home and tell your boy you love him."

And they were back on Puck once more. "I want to do that, Mercedes, I really do, but it just seems too…soon."

"Soon? You've already wasted _two_ years without him. You work at a hospital, Quinn. You see death all the time. Who's to say you're gonna be around tomorrow to tell Puck how you really feel, or if he'll be around to do the same. You can't waste anymore time, Q. You're not some stupid sparkling vampire – you don't have forever."

She tiredly ran a hand through her hair. "I know, but we're living in different states and I've got a good job here and… I just don't know if I'm ready."

She could practically hear Mercedes roll her eyes. "Girl, that's the dumbest thing I ever heard. You and Puck are meant to be. You two are about as obvious as Rachel and Finn and Mr. Shue and Ms. Pillsbury. Seriously, why waste time apart when you already know this? Besides, have you ever heard of a long-distance relationship?"

Everything Mercedes was saying made sense. She didn't know why she was even arguing in the first place. A small part of her was scared to be with Puck, that he could leave her again and break her heart. But the other part, a much larger one, knew he wasn't going to ever leave her again. But could it really be that easy? Could they really just jump back into a relationship again?

Kurt's excited voice pulled her out of her thoughts. "Check your email."

"Huh?"

"Check your email," Kurt repeated, sounding clearly impatient now.

"Okay, okay, hold on," Quinn said, chuckling as she got out of bed and headed into the living room, where her laptop was sitting on the coffee table. She opened up her email account, eyes narrowing as she saw a new message in her inbox. "What's this?"

Kurt sounded incredibly happy with himself as he answered, "That, my friend, is your ticket confirmation for the plane you will be taking to Ohio tomorrow afternoon. Think of it as an early birthday gift."

"Kurt, I can't. I've got work tomorrow. I can't just leave on such short notice. I –"

"That sucks for your work, then," Kurt replied airily, "because you're going."

"Tell them you're going to a funeral or something," Mercedes suggested.

"I'm not going to lie about something like that!"

Kurt sighed dramatically. "I don't really care about what you tell them, darling. All I care is that you're on that plane tomorrow, on your way to doing what should have been done ages ago. If it makes you feel any better, though, I'll personally call your boss and tell them you're visiting your boyfriend's very sick mother. That way you wouldn't be the one lying. I would. And it kind of would be the truth, since you would be seeing Puck's mother…who used to be sick. So really, it's not that big of a deal."

"You guys…" This was crazy. It really was. She couldn't just jump on a plane, arrive on Puck's doorstep unannounced and tell him she loved him, could she? At this point, though, it seemed she didn't really have a choice. "You're both insane, you know that?"

"Of course," Kurt said.

"And you love us all the more because of it," Mercedes added.

Laughing quietly, she had to agree. "I really do."

So she was really going to do this. She was going to see Puck. She was going to tell him she loved him, and assuming he felt the same (and she was sure he did), they would be together again. It was a scary thought, but it was also an amazing one. She was suddenly very grateful for Mercedes and Kurt's not so gentle shove to get her to finally make a move.

"You're not going to regret this, Quinn," Mercedes said.

Lips twisting into a small, but confident smile, Quinn nodded slowly, knowing that Mercedes, as always, was right. "I know."

* * *

**Thanks for reading and please review if you can!**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: **Sorry for the wait on this chapter! It took me longer than expected. I'm not exactly thrilled with the way it came out, so I hope you guys enjoy it more than I did.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed. You guys are the reason I continued writing this story. And thanks to everyone else for reading – you're all awesome! So, without further adieu, here's the final chapter.

* * *

By the time Quinn finally set foot back Lima, she felt like her head was going to explode. A two hour plane ride where she had nothing to do but think about the possible scenarios that could result from today definitely wasn't what she needed to calm her nerves. Then there was the hour and half long drive from the airport, which hadn't been as bad since she had her mom to distract her for some of the ride, but the distractions had only lasted so long and she'd been left to her thoughts a majority of the time – which, she'd learned, was not a good thing. Her mind was her worst enemy.

Still, she knew that matter what the treacherous thoughts in her head warned her, it would be alright. She just had to keep telling herself that or else she'd go crazy.

Quinn stood in the driveway of the house she'd grown up in, a small smile on her face as her eyes wandered around the familiar neighborhood. She had missed this place more than she'd even realized. Her mother pulled her suitcase of the car and started rolling it towards the house.

"Quinn, are you coming?"

"Yeah, I'll be just a second."

Judy disappeared into the house and Quinn lingered there for a moment, debating what her next move should be. It was almost five o'clock. Puck would probably be getting ready to leave work soon, if he hadn't already left. She could go see him now or wait until after dinner and go to his house to say him. But, nervous as she was, she wanted to see him right away. Ever since he'd left three weeks ago, all she had wanted was to see him. Now he was so close and all she had to do was jump in her car, drive a few minutes, and there he would be.

Her mother's hand grazed her shoulder . "I don't have anything planned for dinner," Judy said in an apologetic way.

"I didn't exactly give you much time to plan anything," Quinn replied with a smile. She had called her mother only this morning and announced her surprise visit, which had left Judy nothing short of thrilled.

Judy pulled her into a one-armed hug. "We can order out, if you'd like. Or maybe you wanted to meet up with some of your friends?"

Quinn had put off telling her mother the real reason she was coming home, mostly because bringing it up would be most likely mean a long-drawn out conversation that she'd already had two-times over with Rachel and Mercedes. Now, though, she knew it was time to explain.

She turned resolutely to her mother. "I have to go see Puck."

Her mother's eyes widened in surprise. "Really?"

Quinn nodded. "I don't know how long I'll be with him-"

"Take as long as you want," Judy interrupted, giving her a reassuring smile. "You and I will have plenty of time to catch up this weekend."

"Thank you." Quinn wasn't surprised at her mother's understanding about this particular subject. Judy hadn't liked Puck much at first – and considering he had gotten her daughter pregnant at sixteen, Quinn thought she had all the right to think that – but over time, her mother and boyfriend had gone from tolerating each other's presence to actually liking each other. In fact, Quinn was pretty sure her mother was almost as disappointed as she was when she and Puck broke up.

"When you told me that you and Ryan had broken up, I immediately began to wonder when you would come see Puck, or he would come see you. So when you told me you were coming, I figured it must have been for Puck. I'm surprised you waited so long."

"I would have waited longer if it wasn't for Kurt and Mercedes. They pretty much gave me no other choice."

Judy chuckled softly. "Those two always seemed like very smart kids. So does Puck know you're coming?"

"He has no clue."

"I guess he's in for quite the surprise then. I'm sure he'll be very happy to see you."

Quinn nodded slowly, eyes trailing over to the car she was suddenly very eager to get in. Judy must have sensed her anticipation because she handed her the keys. "You should get going."

Quinn gave her a grateful smile before grabbing the keys and hopping in the car. "Thanks, Mom. I'll call you tonight and let you know what's going on. I'll probably be home late, though."

"That' sounds fine, dear," Judy said. She poked her head through the open window and squeezed Quinn's hand. "Good luck."

Quinn gave a short nod, thanking her mother with a small smile, before pulling out of the driveway and speeding off towards Burt's Auto Shop.

**888**

"Hello down there!" Puck laughed softly as a familiar voice echoed into his ear and rolled himself out from under the car.

"Hey, Mr. Shue," he said, standing up and leaning against the Chevy he was currently working on. A day that went by without Mr. Shue coming by was not a typical day. "Let me guess, your car's leaking oil again."

Lips twisting into an amused smile, Mr. Shuester crossed his arms. "Actually no."

"Really? Hmm…Then it's got to be the radiator."

"Not that either."

"Well, then it's the-."

Mr. Shue held up a hand. "Puck, I'm gonna save you a few hours and tell you I'm not here for my car."

"Oh. Well, that's a surprise." Looking thoughtful, Puck wiped the grease off his hands with a rag. "So what's up? You need help with Glee club or something?"

"Actually, I came here to congratulate you. I heard you got accepted into the police training program."

Puck smiled at the thought. He would be starting the academy in six weeks. "Yeah. I just got the news last night. I hadn't really told anyone yet, though. How'd you hear?"

"I ran into your mother at the grocery store today and she told me. I don't think I've ever seen her so proud."

"She's pretty happy about all this," Puck said, looking down at the oil stained floor with a small smile. "Says I'm doing the Puckerman name proud."

Mr. Shue gave him a firm pat on the back. "I would say you are. I'm proud of you too, Puck. I always knew you'd do great things."

Puck looked away, feeling a bit awkward at the praise being lifted onto him by his former teacher. "Thanks, Will."

Mr. Shue looked surprised. "Will?"

"I thought I'd try it out, since it's been four years since high school and all. But I don't like it. It's too weird."

"I think it would be weird for me too," Mr. Shue said with a chuckle. "Well, I've got to get going. Emma's got dinner waiting."

Puck nodded. "Thanks for stopping by."

Mr. Shuester headed towards the exit, but turned around a second later, a sheepish grin on his lips. "Oh, and the oil in my car actually is leaking…again."

Puck just laughed. "I'll see you tomorrow, Mr. Shue."

Once Mr. Shue was gone, he rolled himself back under the car. He was almost done for the night, which was good since he had many calls to make when he got home. He hadn't really told anyone except his mom, sister, Burt, and now Mr. Shuester that he was trying to get into the police force. He intended to, but he didn't want to take the risk that he wouldn't get accepted into the training program. If that happened, he would have been forced to tell all his friends of his failure, and there was no way he was going to let that happen.

But he had been accepted and all his worries had been for nothing. He was itching to tell one person in particular. He hadn't talked to Quinn in a couple of days. He'd tried calling her last night, when he had gotten the news that he'd been accepted, but she hadn't answered. All Puck really wanted to do tonight was hop into his bed, dial Quinn's number, and tell her everything he'd been keeping from her.

"Puck, someone's here to see you!"

Puck sighed as Burt's voice called out to him. All he wanted to do was finish so he could go home, but with these constant interruptions, he wasn't sure if that was ever going to happen.

"I'm busy," he called back. He didn't want to deal with customers right now.

Burt's head ducked under the car. "I don't think you're gonna wanna miss this one, Puck."

Dropping his tools, he grumbled in annoyance as he slid out from under the car once more. He lazily wiped off some of the oil splattered over his shirt, giving up after a couple of seconds.

"Who is it?" he asked Burt, who was leaning against one of the other cars in the garage. Burt had an odd look on his face, one Puck couldn't quire decipher, but one that eased some of his irritation and replaced it with curiosity.

Burt flashed him a grin. "You'll see."

Eyes narrowing, Puck opened the door and stepped into the reception area. He dropped the rag he was holding when he saw her. She was standing there, a small, slightly nervous smile on her face, one hand toying with the hem of her sweater, the other wiping a strand of blond hair behind her ear. For a second he just stood frozen in place, his lips twitching into what he was sure was a very goofy smile, while his mind went a hundred miles a minute, trying to figure out if it was really her he was seeing, or if the car he'd been working on had dropped on him and now he was in some sort of coma.

"Hi, Puck." Her soft voice pulled him out of his reverie, proving that this was real, she was really here. She had finally come home.

His legs finally decided to move again, allowing him to close the final few steps towards her. He nervously thrust his hands into his pockets as he smiled widely down at her. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to see you," she said, grinning. "There's been something I've been meaning to tell you."

He chuckled. "And you couldn't tell me over the phone?"

"Well, I could have, and I was planning to, but it's much more fun this way, don't you think?"

"I couldn't agree more." Without thinking, he moved one of his hands to graze her waist. "You have excellent timing because I've had something I've been meaning to tell you too."

"Oh, yeah? And what's that?"

"I just got accepted in the Allen County police academy. I'm gonna be a cop."

As her eyes widened in surprise, so did her smile, and she threw her arms around him, kissing his cheek before grasping onto each of his arms. "Puck, that's amazing! Why didn't you tell me earlier?"

"Didn't want to jinx it," he said with a shrug.

"You wouldn't have jinxed it." She grabbed his hand and gave it a soft squeeze. "I can't believe how perfect a job this is for you. Why didn't you think of it before?"

"Leah asked me the same thing," he said, "and I still don't have an answer."

She hugged him again and he relished the touch. There were very few things in this world better than holding Quinn Fabray in his arms. Unfortunately for him, she pulled away a second later, her face set with determination as she looked up at him.

"I broke up with Ryan."

He had been hoping that was what she was going to tell him. "When?"

"A few hours after you left New York."

He raised an eyebrow. "You've been broken up with him this whole time and you didn't bother to tell me?"

"I wasn't ready to," she said, frowning slightly. He didn't want to ruin this moment by getting into a pointless argument about why she'd waited so long to tell him, but still, he had to know.

He moved a hand to cup her cheek, his thumb gently stroking it. "Why?"

Like he had hoped she would, she immediately relaxed into his touch. "Because I knew that as soon as I told you, one of us would end up going to see the other, and we'd end up…"

"Back together?" he finished for her.

She gave him a weak smile. "Yeah."

"And you weren't ready for that?"

"No."

"But you are now?"

His heart skipped a beat at her answer. "Yes."

That was all he needed to hear. Before she could say anything else, he was kissing her for the first time in two years. She tensed in surprise at first, but relaxed a second later as she smiled against his lips. He ran a hand up and down her back, the other grasping the back of her head.

He couldn't believe this was finally happening, that after all the time they'd spent a part, they were back together again – for good, he hoped. He couldn't imagine letting her go after this. If there was one thing he had learned over the past couple of years, it was that no other girl could possibly ever compare to the girl in his arms right now. Back in high school, he had thought he was going to be a bachelor for life. Then Quinn had come along and he'd been left doubting all his previous plans. If being a bachelor meant he couldn't have Quinn Fabray, then he wouldn't be one – it was as simple as that.

She was the one to pull away, which was probably a good thing since he had no idea how he could ever do it himself. He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her as close to him as he possibly could, and she rested her head against his chest.

"So we're really doing this?" he asked.

She nodded slowly, a smile on her face. "We are."

Burt cleared his throat behind him. "Puck, you should head home. I've got everything covered."

Released Quinn from his grasp, he turned to look at Burt. "You sure?"

"Yeah, yeah. You two go ahead and catch up. And take tomorrow off too. I'll be fine on my own."

Puck wasn't one to argue when someone offered him time off, so he simply thanked Burt before stringing his hand through Quinn's and nodding towards the door. "Let's get out of here."

**888**

He took her to his house first, which is what Quinn had been hoping for. She missed Puck's mom and sister almost as much as she had missed Puck. They were both shocked to see her, but their surprise was quickly replaced with the joy of seeing her – and seeing that she and Puck were together again.

After a few hours of catching up, Puck took her up to his room. Helen had failed to hide her displeasure at that – because as much as she loved her, Quinn _was _the girl her son had gotten pregnant out of wedlock and she didn't want a repeat of that situation– but after Quinn reassured her they were just going to talk, she let them both go without a fight.

Quinn ended up on his bed, his arms around her, head resting on his chest as he told her more about the police academy. She was happy that he had finally found something that really excited him, something that had the potential to really make him happy. Then she explained to him what had happened with Ryan. Puck tried to be objective about it all, giving her his condolences and mentioning that he hoped Ryan would be okay, but she could tell he was more than happy that their relationship had ended.

After awhile, their conversation died down and a comfortable silence took over. His fingers strung through her hair and she closed her eyes, feeling, for the first time in a very long time, at peace. His warm breath poured softly into her ear as he moved to kiss her cheek. She twisted around in his arms, nuzzling her face into his neck as her legs tangled with his.

Puck's gruff voice broke the silence. "So how are we gonna do this?"

She cracked open an eye and peered up at him. "Do what?"

"This. Our relationship. How's it gonna work?"

"I don't know…You obviously can't leave here, and I can't leave New York right now, so I guess we'll just have to try the long distance thing for awhile." Puck slowly nodded and she was distracted slightly as his fingers trailed up and down her bare arm. "We'll make it work," she said confidently, and for once she actually believed her words. It wouldn't be easy, but there was no doubt in their mind they would make it through this.

"I know we will," Puck agreed. "I'm not worried. It just sucks that we won't be able to see each other all the time. I mean, I just got you back and now you're leaving again in a couple days."

"It'll just be a temporary thing. Someday I'll move back here or you'll move to New York. We've just got to be patient."

She was already almost positive she would be the one to move back, not because she thought Puck wouldn't want to come back to New York, but because she had recently discovered that she actually really wanted to move back here. She had spent four years in New York, but not once during all that time had she ever really felt like she was home. Now that she was here again, she felt that she was finally where she was supposed to be, here in Lima, with Puck.

"You know how I hate being patient," Puck said, groaning dramatically as he dug his face into her hair.

She laughed softly and tickled the back of his head. "Do you remember what I always tell you when you say that?"

"Get over it?"

"Yup." She leaned into him and kissed his lips. "You're the most impatient person I know."

"Rachel said something a long time ago about me wanting things too much."

"And, as always, Rachel's right," she agreed with a grin.

"Well, I do want a lot of things, but I want _you _most of all and these past couple years of waiting have pretty much sucked out any patience I had."

"So what do you suggest we do?"

He let out a heavy sigh. "I don't know…" He glared up at the ceiling. "I think you're right. As much as I hate it, we've got to do this long distance thing. I've got to get through this program and you've got to keep working at your hospital. It would be a life-changing decision for one of us to pick up our lives and move to be with the other, especially since we _just _got back together. And…I seriously can't believe I'm saying this, but I think we need to take thing slow at first."

Propping herself on her elbow, she cocked an eyebrow. "I can't believe you said that either. But I agree. It would be best for both of us to take things as slowly as possible. We've got plenty of time."

"Unless one of us dies," he deadpanned. She pinched him hard on the arm and he raised his hands in defense. "Hey, I'm just being real. Seriously, I'm gonna be a cop. It's a dangerous job."

"Ugh," she said, falling back on top of him, "don't remind me."

He rubbed her back slowly. "It'll be alright."

"I know," she mumbled.

His hand moved to tip up her cheek so she was looking directly at him. "I love you," he said. She couldn't remember the last time he had told her that. It felt more amazing than she ever remembered.

She kissed him, her lips lingering over hers as she breathed out, "I love you too."

She closed her eyes again and relaxed. She could worry all she wanted about their future, but it would get her nowhere. All that mattered now was this moment. And this moment was about as perfect as it could get.


End file.
